Hamilton-Hudson
Chamber Music Academy & Festival
The Academy & Festival
Hamilton-Hudson Chamber Music Academy is a seasonal classical chamber music program featuring a weekly coaching session, integrated music theory education, and the opportunity to play chamber music alongside professional musicians. Sessions will take place at Open Jar Studios in Manhattan during a weekly time that works for all ensemble members.
Hamilton-Hudson Chamber Music Festival is a week-long classical chamber music intensive located in a traditional salon-style setting: a home directly on the Hudson River, next to Alexander Hamilton Park in Weehawken, NJ, with a direct view of the city skyline. The festival consists of a week-long series of daily ensemble coachings, rehearsals, private lessons, and classes (including music theory, aural skills, history, and masterclasses) at a private residence.
Designed specifically for adult amateur musicians, Hamilton-Hudson Chamber Music Academy & Festival welcomes beginner, immediate, or advanced players of the following instruments: Violin, Viola, Cello, Piano, Flute, Oboe, and Clarinet.
Upcoming Programs
Fall Academy (Weekly)
September 8, 2025 through November 8, 2025
Application Deadline: August 16, 2025
Winter Academy (Weekly)
January 12, 2026 through March 14, 2026
Application Deadline: December 12, 2025
Spring Academy (Weekly)
April 6, 2026 through June 6, 2026
Application Deadline: March 6, 2026
Summer Festival (Daily)
July 12, 2026 through July 18, 2026
Application Deadline: May 1, 2026
Schedule
Each seasonal academy participant will attend weekly chamber music coachings that will culminate in a final performance.
Each summer festival participant will attend daily chamber music coachings, classes, and rehearsals that will culminate in a final performance. Morning and evening session options are available.
Tuition
Ensemble Participant: $800
Each Private Lesson: $100
Ensembles and Optional Private Lessons
All academy and festival participants will be placed in one chamber ensemble consisting of various combinations of strings, piano, flute, oboe, and clarinet.
Each participant will have the option to add on a private lesson(s) for an additional fee.
Application Instructions
We request at least one recent playing sample on your preferred instrument(s). This may be a video or audio recording*, and may be a live or private performance. This is not an audition. We welcome multiple playing samples. The idea is to get to know you and your musicianship!
The application below includes a few brief questions about your musical background and relevant personal information.
The application deadlines for each seasonal program are outlined below. There is no application fee.
Fall Academy: August 16, 2025
Winter Academy: December 12, 2025
Spring Academy: March 6, 2026
Summer Festival: May 1, 2026
*Please upload a link to an outside source. E.g. YouTube, Google Drive, Dropbox etc. Check to make sure your link works before submission!
Acceptance Policy
All musicians from beginner to advanced levels will be considered. Decisions will primarily be made based on an equal balance of ensembles—which means that early applicants are given preference.
We will accept as many participants as our capacity allows. Spots are limited. An overflow of applicants will be placed on a waitlist.
After acceptance notices are delivered, you will have one week to confirm your participation. If this one-week deadline is not met, your offer will expire and be passed to another applicant.
Full tuition is due upon acceptance.
About the Faculty
Sam Gray is a New York-based violinist, violist, administrator, producer, and music contractor. He is currently the Concertmaster of PROTESTRA, an orchestra that advocates for social justice through classical music. Sam is also the Principal Second Violin of Parlando Chamber Orchestra and a performing member of the Bronx Arts Ensemble, Bryan Carter’s Jazz at Pride Orchestra, and Rendez-Vous Orchestra.
In his performance career, Sam has shared the stage with many great artists of our time, including Cyndi Lauper, Titus Burgess, Alex Newell, Daniel Pemberton, Billy Eichner, and Kate Baldwin. Described as “immensely talented” by Broadway World, his work in musical theater includes the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical, and Boop! The Musical. In Fall 2024, he sat Concertmaster of the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Live in Concert National Tour produced by Sony in association with Marvel.
A fervent believer that music is healing to the soul, Sam produces intimate chamber music performances around New York City. He is the co-founder of Hamilton-Hudson Chamber Music Festival, an annual classical chamber music festival for adult amateur musicians in collaboration with pianist and composer Benjamin Nylander.
Sam began his musical studies at the age of nine. His formative teachers include Patricia Cosand, Steven Moeckel, Sarah Plum, and Gary Kosloski. He performs on a 2014 Samuel Zygmuntowicz violin generously on loan from Jay and Michiko Jones.
Benjamin T. Nylander is a composer and pianist living in Brooklyn, New York. His work, inspired by themes of existentialism, memory, and spirituality, often embraces a reverence of nature; it is an encapsulation of wonder at the universe.
Benjamin T. Nylander holds a Master’s in Music Composition from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio and a Bachelor’s in Piano Performance from Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. He has studied composition with Marilyn Shrude, Christopher Dietz, Mikel Kuehn, and Patrick Long as well as piano with Solungga Liu and Naomi Niskala. Nylander has performed at Niigata University in Japan, and as the winner of the 2018 Susquehanna University Concerto Competition, performed Saint-Saëns’ ‘Piano Concerto no. 2 in G minor’ (Movement 1) with the SU orchestra in 2019.
Recently, Nylander has spent time in residencies at the Virginia Creative Center for the Arts in Mt. San Angelo, Virginia and at Snow Pond Music Festival in Sidney, Maine, where he conducted the premiere of his large saxophone ensemble piece, Once More to the Ocean. Alchemy, a new album performed in collaboration with saxophonist Joshua Heaney (Duo Aurous), was released in 2022. In 2023, Nylander joined the traveling chamber music group Mini Masterworks as pianist, conductor, and arranger.
While not performing, Nylander can be found working as repetiteur in the opera studios of Ron Raines, Dona Vaughn, Elizabeth Stevens, and Alison Bolshoi. He teaches a large private studio of his own piano, composition, and theory students throughout the greater New York City area and beyond.
Application
FAQ
I’m a beginner. Can I still apply?
Yes! Ensembles will be created based on respective levels of experience. Music will be assigned according to each ensemble’s skill level.
What is the difference between the Academy and the Festival?
The Academy (Manhattan) is a weekly coaching for 8 weeks that culminates in a final performance. The Festival (Weehawken, NJ) is a daily, one-week intensive that includes coaching, theory class, and rehearsal time.
Will I have my repertoire in advance?
All festival participants will have at least one month to prepare their music before the festival week. All academy participants will have at least two weeks to prepare their music before the first rehearsal. Attendees should come to each program with enough familiarity with their own part to be able to play comfortably in a group.
I am not local to New York City or North Jersey. Am I still able to participate in the festival?
We are currently only accepting applicants that are local to the New York tri-state area.
Is parking available at the festival?
Street parking is available in the area surrounding the private residence. If traveling from New York, bus transport from Port Authority is encouraged.